Our investigation then takes us to the Maldives, where we uncover corruption at the heart of the tiny holiday nation. We collect evidence that a judge accepted state funds, and show how the former vice president, now in jail, was involved in plots to benefit from the sale of islands and lagoons.

It was evidence gathered from three of the former vice president’s mobile phones. Before he was jailed, he handed them to a friend who passed them to Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit. They include selfies, emails and text messages, many of which paint a portrait of a corrupt political class led by President Yameen, which has sold off paradise islands for its own personal enrichment.

Interviews

Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit has obtained a major data leak, exposing corruption and abuse of power in the Maldives and beyond. Over 10 gigabytes of documents, photos and messages. Much of the data is the contents of three mobile phones belonging to the former vice president, Ahmed Adeeb. The data tell a story of corruption. Here, we present a selection of documents obtained, which expose a plot to launder $1.5bn through the Maldives Central Bank, details of a massive oil fraud worth over $140m, embezzlement of millions of dollars by the president and vice president, and forensic analysis of a blast on the president's yacht by the United States FBI and other explosives experts.